How to deploy a Rails app to a VPS (or dedicated server)?

How can I deploy a Rails app to a VPS (virtual private server) or a dedicated server? It would be nice to have an easy to follow guide.

I know about scripts to automate the process, but I think it's better to have everything under control, in order to understand better the process.

Solution

I have successfully deployed a heavy Rails application to Linode or Digital Ocean, using these technologies:

rbenv for Ruby installation
nginx + Passenger for the application server
PostgreSQL for the database server
Capistrano to automate deploys (configure this first on your dev machine with your server IP and settings, I will not cover it here)

These are the steps that work for me:

Setting up the virtual machine

Create a new virtual machine

Follow the setup instructions of your hosting, being Linode or Digital Ocean, to create the node and set it up.

Set up date

dpkg-reconfigure tzdata

Update packages

apt-get update
apt-get upgrade

Security

Create user

adduser deploy
usermod -a -G sudo deploy
logout

Set up SSH key-authentication

On local:

ssh-keygen
copy the public key:
- scp ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub deploy@example.com:~

On the server:

ssh deploy@example.com
enable the alias to list files:
- vim ~/.bashrc
- uncomment all aliases
mkdir .ssh
mv id_rsa.pub .ssh/authorized_keys
chown -R deploy:deploy .ssh
chmod 700 .ssh
chmod 600 .ssh/authorized_keys
logout (test the new authentication)

Set up SSH

sudo vim /etc/ssh/sshd_config
Switch PermitRootLogin to no
sudo service ssh restart

Set up firewall

sudo iptables -L (it should show a void table)
sudo vim /etc/iptables.firewall.rules
Paste this: https://gist.github.com/davidmles/89fc88e48e17cf8252bfca374e46355f#file-iptables-firewall-rules
sudo iptables-restore < /etc/iptables.firewall.rules
sudo iptables -L (now it should show the configured rules)
sudo vim /etc/network/if-pre-up.d/firewall
Paste this: https://gist.github.com/davidmles/89fc88e48e17cf8252bfca374e46355f#file-firewall
sudo chmod +x /etc/network/if-pre-up.d/firewall

Set up fail2ban

Set up if you have enough free memory, as it tends to eat it.

sudo apt-get install -y fail2ban

Setup Ruby

Install Git

sudo apt-get install -y git

Install rbenv

git clone https://github.com/sstephenson/rbenv.git ~/.rbenv
echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.rbenv/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc
echo 'eval "$(rbenv init -)"' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc
git clone https://github.com/sstephenson/ruby-build.git ~/.rbenv/plugins/ruby-build

Install Ruby

sudo apt-get install -y curl gnupg build-essential
rbenv install -l (look for the latest version)
rbenv install 2.3.3 (or the latest available version at this moment)
rbenv global 2.3.3
rbenv rehash
vim .gemrc
- Paste this: gem: --no-document

Setup servers

Install nginx + Passenger

Install following the documentation:
- https://www.phusionpassenger.com/library/install/nginx/install/oss/jessie/

Install PostgreSQL

Install following the documentation:
- https://wiki.postgresql.org/wiki/Apt#PostgreSQL_packages_for_Debian_and_Ubuntu

Setup libraries

Install node.js

Needed to pre-compile assets.

sudo apt-get install -y nodejs

Install bundler

get install bundler
rbenv rehash

Setup the application

Create the user in PostgreSQL

createuser username --pwprompt
createdb -Ousername -Eutf8 db_name
Test it:
- psql db_name --user username --password

Deploy the code * On the server: * sudo mkdir -p /srv/yoursite.com * sudo chown deploy:deploy /srv/yoursite.com * On your dev machine: * bundle exec cap production deploy:check (it will throw an error because it doesn't find the database) * On the server: * cd /srv/yoursite.com/shared/config * vim database.yml (paste your database config) * vim secrets.yml (paste your secrets config) * On your dev machine: * bundle exec cap production deploy * bundle exec cap production whenever:update_crontab

Configure logrotate

Follow this guide: * https://gorails.com/guides/rotating-rails-production-logs-with-logrotate